


I can't stand to watch children bleed

by LadyMina



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Gen, anyways i'm a sucker for that kind of stories so here's this, basically they met once as kids, it could maybe fit in canon? with a bit of squinting? a lot of squinting?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-05-06
Packaged: 2019-05-03 03:12:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14559579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyMina/pseuds/LadyMina
Summary: Okay, so this is the first time I dare writing anything with these characters, so please, please I hope you forgive any issues with characterization and comics details and all that, which I haven't actually read yet, by the way. I just have my love for these characters and the movies for inspiration. Also, English isn't my mother language so I apologize in advance for any spelling or grammar mistakes you might find.





	I can't stand to watch children bleed

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so this is the first time I dare writing anything with these characters, so please, please I hope you forgive any issues with characterization and comics details and all that, which I haven't actually read yet, by the way. I just have my love for these characters and the movies for inspiration. Also, English isn't my mother language so I apologize in advance for any spelling or grammar mistakes you might find.

She’d never seen a Terran before.

At least not one as little as the scruffy shivering boy hiding behind the dumpsters, not too far from her own hiding spot among the shadows. Granted, he could have easily been Xandarian just as well, but there was something about the fear behind his eyes, his odd clothes and the strange thing with orange puffs hanging from his neck that gave her the impression he came from a far more distant place.

Gamora peered from behind a large crate once more, until she finally spotted what the boy was running from: a tall, burly, four armed beast, an alien from a planet she couldn’t quite pin down, a smug, sharp toothed smile on his ferocious face.

A Terran was worth a large sum in some black markets, she’d heard, maybe even more if they were really young.

She wasn’t really sure, but she could swear the boy had begun to quietly sob, as the beast’s footsteps got closer to his hiding place. Biting her lip, Gamora resigned herself to look away; it wasn’t her fault the boy had been foolish enough to run around unarmed in a crowded market full of dangerous people.

It was the scream what made her turn again, just in time to see the big guy kicking over a dumpster bin and lifting the kid by the collar of his shirt, so high he was frantically kicking the air, struggling to break free.

Gamora sighed and repeated to herself over and over again, it wasn’t her fight, and it wasn’t her business.

His cries for help came to a sudden halt, and opening one eye she found the beast clasping an enormous hand over the boy’s mouth, his sobs coming out muffled, short of breath. A third arm was browsing into his jacket; the glint of a pair of handcuffs caught her eye, the clicking sound as they locked around the boy’s wrists feeling almost deafening despite the noise of the hundreds of people outside the alleyway.

Okay, enough was enough. She’d get a good scolding from her father, had he ever found out she’d been wasting her skills busting a stranger out of trouble, especially one that seemed to have no sense of self-preservation whatsoever, but she didn’t care. Gamora wasn’t just going to let a jerk kidnap a boy maybe no older than herself while she stood there doing nothing.

*  
Gamora couldn’t help but feel a twist on her stomach when the boy backed away from her the moment he got out from under two of the beast’s arms, who now laid dead on the dirty floor, a sticky dark substance oozing from his neck and chest. She had to breathe in deeply and focus on her dagger, wiping it on her jacket, otherwise she’d fall to panic; she had to understand he was scared of her because he came from another planet, not because he knew who she was.

She tried to approach him again, raising a hand to calm him down before he had another brilliant idea, like maybe running back to the market while still very much handcuffed, making himself an even easier target.

“Stay away!” he said when she took a cautious step forward, voice all choked up.

Her eyes widened in surprise at being able to understand him, and then her eyes moved to side of his head, finding the chip implanted behind an ear. Of course he couldn’t have survived a day without being able to communicate. His warning didn’t matter to her at all; if anything, she was moving a bit more confidently towards him.

Soon enough the boy found himself with his back against the wall and nowhere else to run. After a tense moment of silence, when he just stared her down with a faint trace of defiance on his face, he simply squeezed his eyes shut, as if waiting for the fatal blow.

“What’s your name?” said Gamora after a minute passed. She’d found out by now that assuring people she wasn’t gonna hurt them never worked, specially not if they knew her parentage.

The boy slowly opened one eye. “Are you – won’t you kill me too?”

“You’re such an idiot,” she shook her head. “If I wanted you dead, then I would have let that guy take you.”

He seemed to meditate for a moment, then hunched ever so slightly and murmured something she couldn’t quite hear.

“What?”

“I said I’m Peter,” he said a little louder, looking away. “Thanks for – for helping me. I guess.”

“You guess?”

“I mean, you just – you – “

Of course she understood at once what he meant, and it made her chest ache with guilt. Instead of dwelling on it, though, she reminded herself that had she not intervened, Peter would have been kidnapped and sold to the highest bidder, or maybe he would have turned up dead even before that. The galaxy was indeed a dangerous place for a Terran.

“Will you tell me your name too?” he suddenly said, bringing her back to the dirty alleyway and out of her mind.

She shook her head.

“That’s not fair.”

“I think it’s time you go back to whoever you came here with,” said Gamora, walking away to inspect the dead body for a set of keys. “I have to – “

The choked sob made her glance up again. “But I just escaped, they – those guys, they – huh – they kidnapped me.”

Gamora’s eyes went wide again, and then back to the cold keys on her hands. Swallowing hard, she just motioned for him to get a little bit closer and once he stood in front of her, she went behind him and freed him from the handcuffs, watching him rub his reddened wrists.

“Are you alone too?” he turned to see her. “Maybe we could – “

“No,” she cut him off before he could get far.

It truly pained her to see the tiny speck of hope vanish from his eyes, but she couldn’t even begin to imagine what would be of him if she were to bring him along, and of course running away with a Terran was out of question. A pair of kids like them would never manage to survive on their own, never mind escape Thanos forever.

“Please,” said Peter, reaching hesitatingly for her arm. “I can’t go back with them. They said – they’ve said they’re gonna eat me.”

She wrinkled her brow. “I’m sure that’s not gonna happen.”

“But he said – “

“I’ll take you to them,” she folded her arms and lifted her chin, usually the best way to tell someone they weren’t going to change her mind. “As close as I can get, at least.”

Peter just hung his head low, stuffing his hands on his pockets.

“You can’t stay here on your own,” she said, trying her best to sound a bit more soothing. “You’re gonna get hurt again and I won’t be around forever to help.”

*  
His hand was grabbing hers so tightly it was starting to go numb, and Gamora was about to shake him off her when she noticed how much he’d suddenly paled. They’d been walking around for a long while now, his voice growing more confident with each passing minute and asking all sorts of questions, most of them so ridiculously obvious it was clear by then how he’d been kept in the dark all this time. Keeping an eye on any potentially dangerous individual crossing their path, she’d simply pushed him around and behind crates and into alleyways so much Peter didn’t even protest anymore; so it was mildly surprising when he pointed at large group of uniformed people and practically tackled her into an alleyway.

Peering from behind a corner, she asked him in a whisper if those were the guys that had taken him, only getting a faint nod as an answer.

Ravagers.

Considering their reputation, it was no wonder why Peter was so terrified of them. Still it was somewhat funny a daughter of Thanos posed a lesser threat to him, but then again, if he didn’t even know the name of the planet they were currently in, there was no chance he had the slightest idea who she was.

“Please don’t make me go back with them.”

“I know they look bad, but they’ll keep you safe,” Gamora nodded, trying to keep her face unreadable. _Safer_ is what she’d tried to say at first, but that would have only made him more nervous.

“They’ll eat me, they already told me if I tried another funny thing – “

“I’m sure they’re not stupid enough to waste a Terran in a meal,” she waved a hand. “Just go with them, it’ll be okay.”

“What? What – what did you mean by wasting a Terran? What are they doing with me?”

Gamora mentally cursed her poor choice of words, and taking a deep breath she peered from the corner again and saw a particularly loud and mean looking Centaurian barking questions at an unfortunate market vendor; she didn’t even need to strain her ears to realize the guy was asking about Peter.

She turned back to him, giving him a good scowl and lifting her chin high again; slowly, hesitatingly even, he let go of her hand and reached into his pockets, holding out a little brightly colored ball wrapped in plastic in his outstretched palm.

“What’s that?”

“Candy,” he shrugged. “It’s the last one I have. My grandpa gave me a bunch of them before – well, before – “

He dropped it on her hand with a tiny smile.

“Why are you giving it to me?”

“It’s – huh, it’s my way of saying thanks. For helping me, you know. I really don’t have anything else to give you.”

She observed him in silence, a lump on her throat menacing to choke her, as he took a deep, shaky breath, the smile fading from his lips, and stepped out of the alleyway, running straight into the Centaurian guy.

*  
Gamora watched the group of Ravagers push a quiet Peter around in a cacophony of laughs, ignoring the fact he was clutching his forearm in fear. Her fists balled up, fingernails digging deep into her skin and drawing a trickle of blood that fell to the floor in small droplets, it took all of her willpower to resist the sudden urge to run back to him and steal him away from that bunch of assholes.

But she had to trust her instincts, and that meant believing with all her might he was going to be okay. Sure, the Ravagers could be ruthless and amoral, but they sure as hell could sniff a good deal a galaxy away, and whoever was in charge of this faction would have to be royally stupid to let Peter go so easily.

He turned around, as if hoping to see her among the crowd one last time before going back to their ship and wherever they were going next. Looking down at the small piece of candy Peter had given her, Gamora wished deeply she’d get to see him again one day.

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from Harvey's New Eyes's intro theme. I haven't played the game, but I like the song a lot and thought it would fit.


End file.
